IRE Radio: Supporting journalists with disabilities

(Dec. 16, 2024) — More than 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. reported having a disability in 2022, yet people with disabilities have long been underrepresented in news coverage and in newsrooms. To explore this topic — and related concerns facing the news industry — IRE’s 2024 AccessFest Conference featured a panel titled, “Supporting Journalists with Disabilities and Improving Disability Coverage.” In this episode of IRE Radio, you will hear excerpts from the panel featuring: 

• Pauline Arrillaga, executive director of the National Center on Disability and Journalism at ASU and former writer and editor for AP News
• Samantha Hernandez, an education reporter at the Des Moines Register 
• Denise-Marie Ordway, managing editor for The Journalist's Resource at Harvard University
• Wendy Lu, a senior staff editor at The New York Times and a global speaker on disability representation in the media 

IRE Radio is distributed across several podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify and Amazon Podcasts. A full text transcript of the episode is available when accessed through the Apple Podcasts mobile app. Please contact editorial@ire.org if you need any assistance.

Additional resources:

• IRE Resource Center
• AccessFest24 tipsheets
• The IRE Journal: Be sure to check out the special Q4 2024 disability-focused edition of the magazine.
• National Center on Disability and Journalism

Production credit:

Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter hosts the podcast. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the script. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Music credit:

Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)